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Optimize Your Website To Drive Growth Now

Author: Emma Grace Brown

Are you interested in growing your company? You should be. Whether you want to be the next mogul or you simply want to stay in business, growth is the best way to ensure success. And one of your biggest assets when it comes to reaching new customers and clients is your website. Use your online presence to drive customer interaction, sales and contacts. 

Drive New Leads

A traditional website informs readers of the company’s story, services and goals. A growth-driven site does all these things in addition to engaging with visitors to create meaningful interaction. This might mean a live chat, an appointment scheduler, a click-to-call button or an online shopping bag. Plus, growth-driven designers like Design Web Louisville focus on the logical placement of information to strategically guide potential customers toward action. Here are a few common best practices to follow:

  • Place contact information on the top of the page, where customers will expect to find it.
  • Make important, actionable items impossible to miss. “Free download” or “Call us now” should be spelled out in large, bold and easy-to-find buttons.
  • Include testimonials. In the world of online shopping, people are used to making decisions based on reviews, and other consumers’ stories will increase confidence in your services.

Integrate Management Systems

Traditionally, Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning have lived in separate worlds. To encourage growth, these systems need to be tightly integrated to ensure quick turnarounds and accurate data modules. Important sales and budget data can be used by CRM to adjust web design toward sales of certain items, seasonal offerings or current trends. This way, website design can happen constantly to keep up with current data, rather than the site being revamped every two to three years and suffering from obsolete information.

If you aren’t using your website to allow customers to make purchases or pay invoices, you’re missing out on a critical (and easy!) source of possible earnings. A Point of Sale system lets customers submit payments, and a third-party site like Plaid offers a bank account verification API so consumers enjoy a seamless experience while you relax in the knowledge that your transactions are safe and secure.

Look at the Stats

Marketing can be a “throw it at the wall and see what sticks” game, but data has given us a leg up in knowing what works. Once you’ve set up your website to engage with visitors and integrated your systems to collect customer statistics, you can sit back and watch how traffic plays out. You can use data to discover how many clicks on average lead to a sale, how much user attrition your website has, and a host of other data points. Then, as changes are made to the site over time, these data points can be measured against changes for a comprehensive, detailed analysis of your site’s performance. No more shooting in the dark. You might be surprised if you find that adding a third-party authentication service lowered customer attrition by 20%, or that adding a Call to Action increased clickthrough rate by 40%.

Don’t let your website be neglected; it has tremendous potential as a source of advertising and revenue for your business. Your site is an important tool in your belt that can give you real-time data to improve sales and customer engagement. Focus your web design toward growth and see for yourself how much of a difference a little data can make.

Author Bio:

Emma Grace Brown lives her life by her rules; and it works! When she’s not snuggling puppies, Emma promotes female empowerment through her website. Her mission is to help those who live with self-doubt to realize they don’t have to mold themselves to conventionality.

Creating a Digital Marketing Strategy for Your Moving Company

Author: Muhammad Shoaib

The rapid growth of technology has changed this world into a global village. The importance of online strategy is more important than the physical strategy. Moving a company is a tough job, and for making it a success, you need to have a plan. Have you ever thought, what benefits can you get by creating a digital marketing strategy for your moving company? Dig deeper to find the answer to this.

Creating a digital marketing strategy for your moving company is very crucial. Whether a local or international relocation, a plan is needed to get your company ahead of customers. Furthermore, it would be best to have a specific strategy to increase the revenue.

Moreover, a marketing strategy should be customized based on the needs of individuals and with their industry needs in time. For this, your website needs to be integrated with CRM. We have explained CRM in detail previously. 

By understanding the purpose of relocation and implementing the right strategy, you can get your desired results. In addition to that, your company will be flooded with phone calls from new customers. This is the beauty of creating a digital marketing strategy.

Business Relocation and Its Challenges

The main question that comes to mind is whether moving your business is a good thing.

Moving business is not famous among people. It is because moving is a stressful and very challenging task.

A recent survey shows that people are very negative about the business relocation, making it hard for the business owners to promote their business. We can say that it is unfortunate for business owners to receive such negative feedback from customers. 

Importance of Online Presence

What are the benefits of online presence, and how can you make your online presence count?

It is a crucial question, and we will answer it in detail. As you know, moving a business has a bad reputation among people, and they are negative about it. Therefore, it is essential to change this mindset by presenting your services online. 

As far as the other part of the question is concerned, your website needs to have a solid SEO to display it upfront. People can see your website and all the exceptional services you are providing. It will help them feel optimistic about your business.

Implementing the Right Strategies

The main hurdle in implementing a digital marketing strategy is to choose which one to implement. Many people make this mistake, so we are going to tell you the best approach. Once you select the best strategy, all the other things will fall into place. 

What Are The Steps For Creating The Best Digital Marketing Strategy?

We are going to tell you four steps that you must take if you want to move your company. 

  • On-Page SEO
  • Off-Page SEO
  • Local SEO
  • Reputation Management

Now, we will explain each of these points in detail: 

  1. On-Page SEO

Before going to the purpose of On-Page SEO, it is essential to know what is On-Page SEO.
On-Page SEO refers to all the measures taken directly within the website to improve its rank in search engines. For example, Meta descriptions and title tags.

Implementing the proper On-Page SEO can set your business up for success. It will help your website be at the top of the search engine results. This way, your business will get more and more customers.

On-Page SEO is made up of many factors, including.

  • Content optimization.
  • URL optimization.
  • H1-H3 optimization.
  • Page title.
  • Meta description.
  1. Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO, also called Off-Site SEO, is the steps taken outside of your website to improve the ranking within search engine results. For example, any link that promotes your business. 

Off-Page SEO is crucial as it shows Google your relevance in the industry. You can do it by yourself or hire an agency to build backlinks for your website.

  1. Local SEO

Local SEO is a carefully worked design that helps your business become visible in local look for results on Google. Any company that has a physical placing can get help from it.

Local SEO includes several factors.

  • Business listings and given statements.
  • Reviews.
  • Google listing and optimization.
  • Location-specific WebPages.
  1. Reputation Management

Moving businesses need more intense reputation management than others. It is because moving companies are not so greatly respected among people. Reputation management is a way of controlling what people see about your business online. 

You can also combine local SEO with reputation management to get better results. We advise you to hire an agency to help you achieve your desired results.

Hiring an expert who can help create the digital marketing strategy is key in business relocation. The right agency can grow your online presence and get constant organic traffic to your website.

  1. PPC for Moving Companies

What is PPC, and how important is it for your business?

PPC stands for pay per click. It has an immediate and positive impact on your sales process. Unlike SEO strategies, it is a quick method of producing sales.

The advertisers pay fees every time an ad is clicked. You can hire an agency to handle the PPC campaign for your moving business. 

  1. Video Marketing

As you know, “A picture tells a thousand words.” But we say a video tells the whole story.

Video marketing is a five times faster way to rank your website. We advise you to hire an agency for your business’s video marketing to get ahead of your competitors. 

Youtube marketing also comes under the radar of video marketing. 

Conclusion

The relocation industry has its own set of challenges, and it is crucial to be aware of them.

Work hard on your online presence and move forward with a plan. We hope that article will help you create a digital marketing strategy for your moving company.

If you have other ideas or suggestions, comment below.

Author Bio:
Shoaib provides ghostwriting and copywriting services. His educational background in the technical field and business studies helps him in tackling topics ranging from career and business productivity to web development and digital marketing. He occasionally writes articles for asia relocation.

Tips for Creating a Great Website for Your Small Business

Author: Eva Benoit

Do you run a small business or want to start one? If so, you might be thinking about creating a website to help market your company and increase sales. But before you start building a website, it’s important to make sure you’re not wasting your time and money by creating a site that won’t help you achieve your goals. To create a great website for your business, check out these tips presented by Designweb Louisville.

Tips on Designing Your Site

Designing your website is important. Even if your site gets 10,000 hits per day — if people don’t like the design they won’t come back. A successful business website needs to be clean and uncluttered so visitors can find what they want quickly and easily. Here are some simple steps you can take to design your website successfully:

  • Have clear calls to action (CTA)
  • Use consistent styling and colors
  • Make navigating your website easy
  • Make forms clear and easy to fill in
  • Making it accessible to those with disabilities
  • Provide a search function

Optimizing for Search Engines

The most important secret of all is search engine optimization (SEO), particularly if you’re running an e-commerce site or your business depends on traffic via search engines. Optimizing involves spending some time working out what keywords people are typing into Google to find products like yours, and making sure those keywords are used within your website. Search engines look at these words as signals of relevance, so they’ll send more visitors your way if they pick up on them.

Tracking Your Progress With Analytics

Once you’ve created your website, make sure you’re tracking its progress with analytics. If people aren’t coming back to your site and you don’t know why, then it will be almost impossible to make improvements. Using analytics allows you to focus on results that matter rather than guessing at what those results might be.

User Experience and Customer-Focused Content

A website doesn’t need to be flashy or complicated. In fact, you’ll get more traffic and more conversions if your site is uncomplicated and easy to use. The best way to optimize for user experience is to create customer-focused content: short, powerful descriptions of what you do and how you can help customers. When possible, include examples of work you’ve done so prospects can see your creativity in action.

Different Professionals You Can Hire

The right web development company can develop or redesign a website with branding colors and styles consistent with your identity. They can also ensure your website is fast, secure, and optimized. Finding an expert is as easy as using a good job board. If you need help with marketing your business in Crestwood, KY, there are professionals who can handle everything from content creation to social media management. If you do a search for “average cost freelance web developer,” you’ll find that they cost between $15 and $30 per hour, but you can expect to pay more depending on their skills and experience.

Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is power when creating a great website, and knowing what steps have worked for other small businesses in your industry can help point you in the right direction. Be sure to visit Designweb Louisville for help with business website development.

Author Bio

Eva Benoit specializes in helping professionals with stress and anxiety but welcomes working with people from all walks of life. She works with her clients to discover and explore avenues that will bring them balance, peace, and improved overall well-being that can last a lifetime. 

How to Properly Showcase Upcoming Events on Your Website

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

You know it’s important to inform your customers about upcoming events, but figuring out how best to display them on your website isn’t easy. You want to generate excitement without overshadowing other elements on your page driving new leads to sign up or current customers to order.

With the onset of the pandemic, many companies moved to virtual events. Driving engagement for online and hybrid events presents some unique challenges. Still, even with the obstacles, around 80% of decision-makers say they could achieve the same or even greater success via virtual and hybrid events as in-person ones.

Whether your event is in-person, virtual or hybrid, there are some things you can do on your website to engage users and pull them into the excitement of the experience. Dig into these tips and examples to figure out the best way to bring site visitors on board.

1. Choose Timeline Type

There are many different ways to showcase events on your site. You may decide to share a monthly calendar, for example. You could also swap out events by week or day. Swapping daily may be the least desirable as you’ll not have as much time to register attendees.

With a calendar of events, you can place it in a sidebar, a particular section of your site and even make it expandable to fill the screen.

We love the way Southern Indiana presents their events page. Not only do they highlight upcoming things to do in the next week, but they place a monthly calendar view in the left sidebar so users can scroll through upcoming activities in the next few months. You can also change the filters to look at the events from different layouts and highlights.

2. Consider Popularity

There may be a few events you want to keep small and to only a select few. A special customer appreciation dinner might be something you send personal invites to rather than listing the event on your site. Or, you could keep details vague.

On the other hand, you may host some events you want to invite everyone to, such as a Facebook livestream highlighting new products for the holidays. Think about how many you wish to attend the best location on your site.

If you want everyone to see the event details, place something in your hero header. On the other hand, you can de-stress the importance of minor events by adding a note in a sidebar or on an events page.

3. Put the Focus on the Activity

If you want to emphasize the activity rather than the date, you can use a timeline to show what promotions are upcoming and then list the date in smaller text. The typographical hierarchy of your events section can draw attention to the event itself more than the date it occurs.

Emphasizing the activity works particularly well for entertainment and restaurant venues people attend frequently. They may jump on your site the day they arrive to see what’s going on.

Tachi Palace lays out their current events in a vertical timeline, placing the emphasis on each promotion. The date appears under the heading in regular text. As the person hovers over eac event, the circle to the left animates and grows larger on that point.

In addition, each option is clickable so the user can gather more information as needed. Their most popular promotion is in a box to the left with a big, bold image and special typography for the headline.

4. Make Registration Stand Out

If your event requires registration, make sure your call to action (CTA) button pops. Use a bright color and make it clear what happens when the person clicks on the CTA, such as “Sign Up,” “Register” or “Get Free Gift.”

The goal of your events page should be to get your site visitors to engage with your brand. You want them to attend the event, sign up for updates or some other action that continues your dialogue with them.

5. Add Filters

If you host a lot of different events, you may want to add filters to your calendar so users can hop right to the sections of most interest to them. If you serve different age ranges, this is an ideal solution to make sure people only see applicable events.

The Indianapolis Children’s Museum does a great job allowing users to filter down to the events most interesting to them. You can sort by age group and topic. A few highlights are easy to spot within feature boxes, such as Santa’s arrival for the holiday season.

6. Create an Experience

What visuals do you place around your events on your website? If you’ve hosted the event before, you may already have images from the previous year you can utilize to encourage signups for this year’s happening.

If this is the first time hosting the event, you may have to get a bit more creative with your visuals. How can you create an online experience modeling what will occur at your digital or in-person event? What pictures tell the story and will make users want to jump on board.

Test Everything

The perfect combination of elements for your events on your website may vary from that of other business owners. Try different tactics and survey your users to see how the calendar works for them. Make adjustments as you go.

Utilize A/B split testing to see if people respond better to events listed in a hero header or those placed in a sidebar. Should you add images or leave them out? Try different things and pay attention to your conversions. It may take some time to hit on the perfect event calendar combination for your target audience.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

How to Grow Your Business with a Website

Author: David Anderson

Your website is your business’s online home. It can provide you with an incredible opportunity to grow your company, generate more revenue for the products and services you offer, and build a strong reputation with customers. But how do you make it happen?

Get a Good Domain Name

The first step to growing your business is getting a good domain name. This will be the address that visitors come in through and it should reflect what you do, but also put an emphasis on who you are as a brand. It’s important for this to not only look professional when potential customers visit it but also help with SEO so that search engines can easily recognize and rank your site higher than competitors. Once you have decided on which domain name best suits your company, go ahead and get started by registering or purchasing that URL before everybody else does! You don’t want to miss out on this key piece of your online presence.

Create a Detailed Plan for Your Website

Before you jump into developing or redesigning your website you should have some sort of plan in place that includes who the audience is, what they are looking for when visiting it, and how often they will be using it. To figure all this out, take time to conduct research with potential customers about their needs, problems, pain points, and questions so that when you create content for your site these can be answered immediately!

This also helps make sure everything is actually helpful and valuable which is crucial if you want visitors coming back again and again. Find ways to use web analytics tools like Google Analytics or Hubspot to see how people are using your site and to put together a plan for what changes need to be made in order for you to achieve the goals that have been set.

Display A Clear Description of Your Business on Your Site

There are a few different options for displaying information about what you do online. You can choose to have multiple pages that outline the products, services, and solutions you provide along with testimonials from previous customers who were happy with their results. Another option is creating one landing page where everything is laid out in an easy-to-read format that provides more details on each of these topics so visitors don’t have to go hunting around if they want specific answers or would rather not spend time scrolling through content looking for what interests them. Just make sure whatever path you take includes good quality images, enough text but isn’t overly wordy, and has links back to other areas within your too!

Don’t Forget to Make the Interface Simple and Easy to Navigate

Once you’ve created a comprehensive and informative site that tells visitors everything they need to know about your business it is important for them to be able to find what interests them quickly and easily. This means keeping the interface simple with easy-to-read menus, not too many advertisements getting in the way of content, and using menu bars within each section or page if there are multiple links available. You want people spending as much time on your website as possible so make sure its user friendly!

Create a Simple but Catchy Logo and Display it at the Top of Your Site

Since you’re going to be using your logo on all of your marketing materials it is important that it looks professional and communicates what you or your company does. Think about how the colors, fonts, and design overall will look on a business card, brochure, social media post, or even as an app icon for mobile users! The good news is, you don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of bucks to create a good logo. You can use a free logo creator and achieve great results!

Offer Quality Content That Educates Visitors

Quality content can build trust with customers which leads them to become more familiar with who you are and why they should choose your products/services over someone else in the industry. It also helps answer any questions potential clients might have without having to actually pick up the phone and call. To make sure this information is valuable there are a few things to think about:

  • What are the biggest problems/issues in this industry? How can you help solve them and provide a better solution?
  • Who is your target audience? If everyone could benefit from what you have to offer then who needs it the most right now, or in six months time when they decide to look for a business like yours online.
  • What do people need that’s stopping them from doing their job well or making it more efficient? Make sure content on your site doesn’t just talk about how great things are but also gives examples of actual results customers have received when using your services. This way visitors know exactly why they should choose you over your competitors.

In conclusion, the only way to be successful online is by consistently growing your business. A website can help you achieve this goal and manage it all in one place, but make sure the website content is informative, easy-to-read, and includes links back to pages where visitors can learn more or get started! Use the tips above, and you will be on the path to growing your business exponentially.

Author Profile

David Anderson is a business graduate with a marketing major. He specializes in communication design and has helped many brands achieve their goals in marketing communication. Now he writes for freelance clients on topics related to brand design, visual communication, and marketing.

How to Set 2022 SMART Goals for Your E-commerce Business

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

When you’re an e-commerce business owner, you know that you must set goals to achieve success. Many e-commerce brands, no matter their size, miss out on growth because they do not take the time to set goals moving forward.

If you expect to see your business thrive in 2022, here is an overview of how to build SMART goals. And, hopefully, this guide will give you more insight into how SMART goals can benefit you in your business venture.

Why You Need SMART Goals for Your E-commerce Business

As with all things in your business, marketing needs a strategy to obtain success, and it starts with establishing SMART goals. “SMART” is an acronym to help you clearly define your purpose.

SMART goals are crucial in your business. Studies show participants achieving a 33% higher success rate when writing down goals and making a plan of action. Essentially, SMART goals become a roadmap you need to drive toward your definition of success.

This acronym can be a powerful tool in e-commerce. But to create a definitive marketing plan, you must use your SMART goals as a framework to achieve the results you’re looking for in your online business.

What Is SMART?

SMART is defined as “Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely.” Here’s what that actually means in practice.

Specific

Think of what the goals are that you want to attain in your business. These goals should be specific enough to help guide you in the following steps you need to take to achieve them. But you should avoid setting unrealistic goals to ensure you obtain a positive ROI (return on investment) with your online store. Answer specific questions such as:

  • What do I want to achieve?
  • Why is this important?
  • Who is going to accomplish this?

Measurable

To remain successful as an e-commerce business owner, establish goals that are measurable and achievable. These indicators suggest how much time you’ll need to meet your deadlines. And it helps you stay on track while acknowledging where you are during the entire process of achieving your goals. With this goal, you should be able to answer questions including:

  • How many?
  • How much?
  • When can I achieve this accomplishment?

Attainable

When it comes to business prosperity, you need to establish reasonably attainable goals. Setting a goal should keep you from stretching yourself too thin but should allow enough room for growth during the process. Ask yourself the following questions to set an achievable goal:

  • How can I achieve this goal?
  • Is this goal realistic enough for me to accomplish?

Relevant

Relevant goals exist to reassure you they align with your other business goals. This step is to help you remain in control so you can look forward to having your team help achieve them. Questions you can answer to ensure you’re taking the proper steps include:

  • Is this worth my time?
  • Does it seem like the right moment to take action?
  • Does this goal align with my needs?

Timely

Target your goals with a set deadline. This method creates a sense of urgency and helps you to focus on working towards those goals. A time goal prevents daily operational tasks from becoming a higher priority and allows you to seek your long-term goals. When setting a time to reach your goal, ask yourself:

  • When can I achieve this?
  • What actions can I start taking today?
  • How can I accomplish this goal six months from now?

E-commerce Goal Examples

Here are a few marketing objectives you can look at as an example to assist you with establishing your SMART goals:

  • My business needs to attain 5,000 website visitors to increase our revenue to $100,000 through content marketing within the next six months.
  • We have to increase our brand awareness by the last quarter of 2022 by partnering with an additional eight to 10 influencers.
  • We need to increase our store’s conversion rate by 6% in the third quarter of 2022 by offering a limited-time discount on our best-selling products.

Steps for Setting Your SMART Goals in E-commerce

The first step to working through this acronym is simply setting a goal you would like to achieve in your business. For instance, your business can meet higher product demands by outsourcing packaging needs. By establishing this type of goal, you can start breaking it down by determining the steps you would take to achieve these results.

Before you establish these steps, you should understand why you need to reach these goals. Setting your “why” helps you know what your mission is all about when you move forward with the next steps.

After you establish your goal and understand your reasoning behind it, it’s time to commit. This step involves brainstorming how you are going to attain this goal. It’s best to create a plan for when your commitments fail to produce results.

Ask yourself how far you’re willing to execute your plan and when you should stop committing your resources. Once you hit a roadblock, this strategy will guide your team in knowing when to put a stop to reaching the goal.

After you establish a SMART goal, consider making a plan for how you are going to achieve results. You and your employees can accomplish better work performance results when creating a plan of action. Here are a few excellent questions you can ask yourself to create a system:

  • What costs are involved, and what resources will be required to fund these efforts?
  • What steps can I take to increase my profit margins?
  • Which adjustments should I make with my supplier to expand my margins?
  • What products can I develop to reach my goal?

Taking Action

SMART provides you with the ability to achieve your overall success. Use the SMART goal framework to build your focus and improve your strategies for growth. Only you can start taking action today by using this strategy to improve your e-commerce operations. What goals will you define in your business for 2022?

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

Top 6 Web Design Trends for 2021

Author: Stacey Shannon

The question “what makes a good web design?” does not have a conclusive answer. You see, the digital landscape is constantly evolving, which is why we get a new perspective on this question every couple of years.

Generally speaking, a good web design is responsive, immersive, and intuitive. Everything else is optional.

Now, while these “requirements” are clearly defined, they are merely objectives that you can complete using a number of methods. The themes and styles change, as well as the popularity of various design elements. With that in mind and without further ado, here are the top six web design trends for 2021.

Minimalism

There are many reasons why minimalism is a great solution. First of all, it’s not resource-intensive, which already helps your website run more smoothly. Keep in mind that the page’s responsiveness plays a significant role in user experience and ranking factors.

Second, it enhances the page’s readability and allows your audience to focus their attention on the right elements. More is not always better, especially if it leads to the paradox of choice. According to one study from 2000, people presented with six options were ten times more likely to make up their minds than those who were asked to choose between 24 options.

Keep in mind that the concept of minimalism creates one major misconception. Namely, because it has a simple look, it creates a belief that making a good minimalist design is easy to pull off. Nothing could be further from the truth. Whitespace management alone is a difficult task and having the right HTML-to-text ratio is incredibly difficult to achieve. On top of it, you need to make a lasting impression.

Oversized Elements

Oversized elements can help establish the hierarchy of importance on any page. This is especially important when it comes to presenting an organically inserted CTA (call-to-action) button. As such, proper use of CTA can drastically enhance your pages’ CTR (click-through rate). According to veteran SEO services providers, CTR is one of the principal ranking factors that won’t go obsolete no matter how much the algorithm evolves.

The key to inbound marketing is definitely the concept of spontaneity. This is where oversized elements can take the idea even further. Namely, people are programmed to pay attention to larger objects first. This means that by presenting three objects all in different sizes, you can rest assured that the audience will gaze at them in the order of size. This gives you a lot of creative freedom to create unique designs.

Oversized elements are a simple concept that can fit into any other design trend discussed on this list. It is a simple idea that can be implemented in any theme or style.

Dark Mode

The concept of dark mode has been here for a while now, but in 2021, it has almost become mandatory. Primarily, it diminishes the glare effect and makes it easier on the eyes.

Some websites and platforms (like Facebook, Skype, Discord, etc.) allow the users to choose between standard (often white) and dark mode. This customizability has an important psychological effect on the users. Namely, by allowing your audience the privilege of altering the physical properties of the website, you are helping them feel like they participate in the design, as well. This alone is a huge boon to their sense of ownership, as well as their sense of belonging.

Keep in mind that there’s more to dark mode than just switching to a darker hue of the background. The colors of fonts need to be recalibrated as well. All in all, it’s probably for the best to leave this to professionals.

Split Content

Visual dividers have always been a part of web design, but the concept of split concept has grown in popularity. Knowing how to make a good transition is often quite tricky. Generally speaking, there are several types of visual dividers that you could use. Some of these are lines, color transitions, negative space, shadows, and image frames.

Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and while some are ideal in one specific scenario, they might not work in some other situation. Generally speaking, split content, especially horizontally split, is excellent for side-by-side comparisons. This is a particularly good idea for landing pages since it provides some instant information. Also, through contrast, you get to exploit psychological constructs like proximity and similarity principles.

One more thing worth mentioning here is that you can use negative space as a divider to make the whole image look minimalist. Like large objects, it’s something that you can integrate regardless of the theme or style.

Retro Touch

Nostalgia can be a powerful tool, but what does nostalgia mean when we discuss the concept of web design? For most people, this is the look of the early 2000s, including concepts like brutalism.

Now, this too is a bit more nuanced than you would expect. When looking at things through the lens of nostalgia, people only tend to focus on positive things. For instance, while they remember the visuals and their positive experiences with early internet content, they often forget the broadband speed and responsiveness.

In order to get the best of both worlds, you want to return to retro formats and retro visuals by keeping present-day responsiveness and optimization. Mobile-friendliness, touch-friendliness, and similar quality of life upgrades should not be forgotten. It’s really all about getting the best of both worlds.

Gradient Color Scheme

Figuring out how to use gradients and make the transition of subtle and mesmerizing hues might not be an easy task, especially if one is a web design novice. First, you need to understand the concept of color progression or color ramp. The key thing is that you pick two colors that will fit the opposite sides of the area/screen and fill in the space between all the nuances between these two colors on the spectrum.

One interesting effect of this method is the fact that it gives a three-dimensional appearance to the design. Most importantly, it doesn’t take too much skill or effort. Of course, there are different types of color gradients and a lot of color gradient tutorials out there for those willing to learn more.

In Conclusion

In the end, while some of the above-listed ideas can be combined, the rest are quite self-explanatory. Your website probably has its own unique agenda (closely tied to your business objectives), and as long as these are fulfilled, there is no right or wrong answer. Just keep it clean, simple, responsive, and immersive. While this is easier said than done, the above-listed six trends will help you with this task.

Does Your Landing Page Catch Your Audience’s Attention?

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Landing pages are one of the most important elements of any marketing campaign. The campaign only converts customers if the landing page can grab their attention and convince them to move forward in their buying journey.

Designing a landing page to catch the attention of your audience will help make sure your marketing campaigns end well — and that the effort you put into your PPC ads, content and other forms of marketing will pay off.

Here’s how to know if your landing page is catching your audience’s attention — and simple strategies for designing landing pages that are impossible to ignore.

Metrics for Tracking Attention

If your current campaign isn’t going as well as you think it should be, you can use landing page metrics to tell if your landing pages are catching your audience’s attention.

These are some of the most useful metrics for measuring how attention-grabbing your landing pages are:

  • Views: How many people total visited your landing page.
  • Goal Completions/Conversions and Conversion Rate: How many visitors went on to convert. The fraction of visitors who converted is your conversion rate. A good conversion rate can vary significantly, but higher is always better.
  • Average Time on Page: How much time the average visitors spend on your landing page. Longer is typically better, but not if few visitors convert. Extremely short page times can be a sign that something is wrong with your landing page.
  • Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who visit just one page then leave your site. If your bounce rate is high and your average time on a page is low, it’s a good sign that your landing page isn’t convincing visitors. It could also be a sign of design problems — like long loading times or broken mobile design — that may be steering potential customers away.

If your bounce rate is particularly high, or your average time on page and conversion rate are particularly low, you may need to change up your landing page to make it more attention-grabbing.

These three case studies show how different brands have designed landing pages to secure visitor attention.

1. Focus Your Design

The best landing pages have a singular goal in mind. Keeping the landing page as focused on that goal as possible will help you to both prioritize design elements that are attention-grabbing and guide visitors towards a sale.

For a great example of a simple but effective page with a clear design goal, check out this page from Illuminating Design, a Georgia-based lighting consultant and design company.

The page header “See What We Can Do For You” combined with a gallery of images from previous projects demonstrates what visitors can expect from the business. It’s simple, easy to understand and helps encourage visitors towards a sale.

2. Review Your Attention Ratio

The attention ratio is one strategy for optimizing landing page design. It represents that ratio of links on the landing page to the number of campaign conversion goals. Typically, the ideal attention ratio is 1:1 — for each conversion goal you have, your landing page should have exactly one link.

Unlike your main page or a blog page, where lots of links are necessary to move visitors around the website and provide the information they need, landing pages can get very simple.

You can dedicate landing pages to just one function, helping ensure that visitors know exactly where you want them to go. This makes it easy to move forward if they’re interested in what your campaign is offering.

This usually means removing all the links and distracting elements from your landing pages that don’t line up with your conversion goals.

For an example of a streamlined landing page with an optimized attention ratio, check out this landing page from Shopify:

Above the fold, there’s just one link — a one-field form with a clear CTA. It’s one of the largest elements on the page and is pretty easy to spot.

If your landing pages are busy or trying to do a lot of different things at once, trying simpler landing pages may help.

3. Consider Form Design

Once you’ve optimized your attention ratio, you can also tweak the design of your links. More effective anchor text and form design can help you upgrade your landing page if visitors seem to be getting stuck or confused.

For example, long forms can be intimidating — if a customer sees they have to fill out five or six or even more individual fields, they may choose to leave the site instead. Paring down long forms is a good way to streamline a landing page. If you can’t shorten your form, you can also try organizing your form so that not every field is visible at once.

See this landing page from Lyft. The company needs more information from a new driver than just their mobile phone number and whether or not they need a car. They’ll also need an address, car information, insurance info and more. Asking for all of this at once can be intimidating, however, so the business staggers the form over a few pages, instead.

If you need a lot of information from a customer, organizing your form like this may help you make your landing pages more effective and attention-grabbing.

Upgrading Your Landing Page to Grab Audience Attention

Good landing pages are necessary for good marketing campaigns. These design tips will help you build landing pages that can secure the attention of visitors who you steer to your site.

Focused design, an optimized attention ratio and strong form design will all help you avoid some of the common landing page pitfalls that businesses struggle with.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.

Medical Products and Services Website

Author: Sean H. Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

RS Synthesis needed a updated site that allowed them to sell their products and provide information to the customers. Design Web put together a great site that helped them include a custom ecommerce solution, as well as a custom calculator for instant pricing on their products.

Should Your Business Site Feature a Portfolio on the Landing Page?

Author: Eleanor Hecks Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

Your landing page is often the first impression visitors have of your business. A well-designed site means the difference between a user who bounces away and one who converts into a lead. Should you include a portfolio on your landing page? Will it distract from the buyer’s journey?

The answer isn’t cut and dried. You might find a portfolio works well on one landing page and not another. In a Databox survey, researchers found a 26% average landing page conversion rate across industries. However, some sites saw rates as high as 70%. Your goals should start where your site currently is and gradually increase until you hit the range you desire.

Does Your Business Site Need a Portfolio?

What does a portfolio do for your business site? You’ve likely seen galleries on sites for home builders, interior designers and cosmetic surgeons. If you can show a clear before and after or how your product is unique, a portfolio inspires users.

Yes: You Offer Custom Options

Companies offering custom solutions can best showcase their abilities via photo galleries. If you build homes, create outdoor landscapes, create home decor or do any other type of custom work, then a portfolio on your landing page is a must.

Utilize your portfolio to show off your best work. Choose only photos highlighting what you do best. If you add detailing to cars, share a range of common requests such as pinstripes and more detailed work such as flames down the side of an old Chevy.



Grace Point Contracting offers custom options based on the needs of each client. Note the highlighted gallery image in the screenshot above and the details on how they added new siding, windows and doors.


Potential customers want to see the quality of work before contracting, so the images highlight their abilities, the process and the beautiful finished product.

Yes: You Sell Services

Not everyone is great at selling themselves. You might be the best vinyl vehicle wrap installer in your state, but if you don’t know how to convey the message to potential business to business (B2B) buyers, you may miss out on sales.

Your landing page can serve as a sales tool, so you don’t have to pitch yourself as hard. You can even pull it up and use it as a prop when talking to potential clients. Use the portfolio to showcase the work you’re most proud of.

Kentucky Dent Guy uses a portfolio on his landing page to highlight some of the more challenging dent repairs he’s capable of. The photos automatically rotate, so you can see how he fixes bumpers, door dings and hail damage.

Since each job is unique, this allows leads to see if his service might work for them. He also includes a way to phone and text him to get a fast quote.

Yes: Before and After Is Your Lifeblood

A portfolio is the perfect solution for any business that does improvements. For example, if you own an interior design company, landscaping firm, dental practice or anything that goes from start to finish with an improvement, you can showcase the before and after photos in your portfolio and make a powerful impression.

Select images with startling contrast. Think about the services and products making you the most profit and highlight them on your landing page portfolio.

Streitz Dental Arts shows their abilities by placing side-by-side photos of before and after smiles on their website. Some of the images are startling, which encourages clients with severe dental issues to contact them.

When to Avoid a Portfolio on Your Landing Page

You might wonder if there is ever a time you shouldn’t put a portfolio on your landing page. Of course, there are times when it will distract from the sales funnel and not add much value to your site. Here is when you should say no to a landing page gallery:

No: You Sell a Consistent Product

If you sell the same product that does the same thing for each customer, you may not need a portfolio. You might be better served highlighting the image in use or showing it from different angles.

Consider the details a customer needs to make an informed decision about buying from you. If they only need price, product details and a few images, avoid a bulky portfolio and keep the page streamlined.

No: Your Bounce Rate Is High

Do site visitors land on your page and immediately bounce away? You may have too much clutter on your landing pages. Remember to focus on a single goal for a single element on your site.

Who is your target audience? If you drive visitors from Facebook to collect a free guide and capture their emails, you shouldn’t distract from the purpose of the page. Add a simple form and let them know what they’re getting in exchange for their information.

Powerful Portfolios for Your Site

There is a time and place to add portfolios to your business website. Think about the purpose of each page and whether an image gallery adds to your goal and moves the user toward an action.

Add new features and test to see how users respond. Over time, your use of images should improve and you’ll know what drives your target audience. In the meantime, add photos when it makes sense and adds to the discussion. You can always take them down again and try something else.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.